A word in the ear from his older brother convinced Jack Ainsley to sign for Lowestoft Town.

The Felixstowe-born 22-year-old was released by Ipswich Town at the back end of last season after making four appearances for the Championship club.

Having been on trial at League One side Preston North End and impressed on loan at Blue Square South side Chelmsford City, the youngster looked set to drop only a few steps down the pyramid.

However, he has ended up joining his brother Stuart – three years his elder – at the Trawlerboys, with the Suffolk club looking to finally make it out of the Ryman Premier Division (step three of non-league) following the heartbreak of three successive play-off final defeats.

“We would not have thought that we had any chance of bringing in someone like Jack,” said Lowestoft joint-boss Ady Gallagher.

“But circumstances change in football and we’re delighted to have him on board.

“Stuart is a fantastic lad – he has been with us for about four years now and knows what we’re all about.

“I’m sure his influence helped our cause – I think Stuart loves the club and has had nothing but good to say about the way we go about our business.”

Gallagher continued: “Jack has been training with us for a few weeks and you can see that he’s really enjoyed it.

“He played a part in the friendly against Sudbury and it wasn’t too difficult to get a deal in place.

“The chairman has done a great job in bringing someone of that calibre in because it has been hard going so far in the transfer market.

“With regards what position he’ll play, we are still open on that. As a young lad he was always a striker but he has played full-back for Ipswich in the Championship.

“If you spoke to him I think he’d regard himself as a striker but we will wait and see where we think it would be best to use him.

“He is clearly a very good player - we will just see how it goes. He’s certainly bought into what we’re trying to do here.”

“We all know how difficult it is going to be next season but we are always confident that we will be very competitive. We’ve still got a very good squad of players.”

Meanwhile, Ipswich Town continue their pre-season tonight with a game at League One side Gillingham (7.30pm ko).

Having fielded an Under-21 outfit in Saturday’s 1-0 win at Wiltshire non-league side Chippenham Town, it will be a large first team squad that travels to Priestfield.

In previous games at Shelbourne (2-0 win) and Crawley (2-1 win), completely different outfield line-ups have been used in each half as manager Mick McCarthy looks to raise fitness levels. Tonight could give a few early clues as to how he sees his team shaping up for the opening game of the new season, at Reading on August 3, with players set to start getting 60-70 minutes stints.

Aaron Cresswell is a doubt after he limped off with a thigh injury at Crawley last Wednesday, with Tyrone Mings having been withdrawn from the trip to Chippenham as a result. The Blues could include one or two new trialists as McCarthy’s continues his search for new recruits.

For live match updates, follow @Stuart_Watson on Twitter.